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Men, God doesn’t have a giant roulette wheel in the sky that determines our destiny. Nether are we subject to fate. Our lives are governed and guided by the merciful will of God, and His plan for us is one of blessing.

Blessing, of course, doesn’t mean the absence of suffering or conflict. For God brings these events and circumstances into our lives in order to facilitate growth and maturity. God will certainly give us what we need amidst them, and what He wants to give us most is the blessing of Himself. He longs for each of us to know intimately that a loving relationship with Him is sweeter, and more valuable, than anything else possible.

As God restores our souls, He also purifies our desires. He wants us to stop taking detours into the world’s glittering paths of possessions, power, and superficial pleasure. He wants us to stay on course and continue to move toward Him.

The narrow path leads us to Living Water’pure and deeply satisfying to our thirsty souls. I know this from experience. Even though the refining process is marked by periods of pain, I have found that knowing God is the only thing in the world that I truly desire. When my heart is right with Him, all of my other joys will follow. This, then, is my prayer for you. That you will walk the narrow path that leads to the Living Water.

Humility doesn’t save a man eternally, but is sure saves him a ton of grief. Humility doesn’t change a man’s circumstances, but it helps him submit to God’s purposes amidst his circumstances. Humility doesn’t speed up answers to prayer, but it accelerates the acceptance of God’s will. Humility doesn’t make decisions for a man, but it inclines his heart toward decisions consistent with God’s plan. Humility doesn’t earn a man more of God’s love, but it helps him experience God’s love at a deeper level.

For these reasons Scripture has a great deal to say on the topic of humility:

Psalm 25:9 says ‘God guides and teaches the humble.’

Psalm 147:6 says ‘The Lord sustains the humble.’

Proverbs 11:2 says ‘Wisdom belongs to the humble.’

Proverbs 22:4 says ‘True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.’

Isaiah 57:15 says that the Lord personally dwells with and refreshes the humble.

Matthew 23:12 says that the humble with be exalted, and the exalted will be humbled.

And James 4:6 says that God is gracious to the humble.

Rewards, sustenance, wisdom, guidance, intimacy, grace, renewal, and revelation’all hinge on an attitude that accompanies our faith. The early-twentieth-century preacher and theologian Oswald Chambers called humility ‘the great characteristic of a saint.’ For all its benefits and blessings, humility is the best way to go for God’s man. In fact, it’s the only way to go.

If Christians were on fire for God, it would show in our marriages. Don’t you think the fact that rates of adultery and marital dissatisfaction in the Christian church are no different than the rates outside the church reveals something about our hearts that needs to be addressed?

Very few of us are consumed by our marriages, and fewer still are consumed by purity. Yet both are God’s desire for us. God’s purpose for your marriage is that it parallels Christ’s relationship to His church’that is, to be consumed with self-sacrificing love for our wives, and lay down our lives to make marital oneness a reality.

But when this doesn’t happen as we’d like, we get frustrated. ‘Well, if this is how she’s going to be,’ we think to ourselves, ‘why should I go through all the effort of serving her, and of being pure? She doesn’t deserve it.’ We’re tempted to retaliate and withdraw from our responsibilities.

Men, we all need reminding that our marriages are unconditional covenants, not conditional contracts. That means that amidst ever changing conditions and emotions, our commitment must never waiver.

Perhaps you’re finding it difficult to cherish your wife’to treat her with tenderness and hold her dear. Warm, romantic feelings are great, but fleeting. What if you don’t have them at the moment you need them? Lean upon your commitment to God. Be faithful to your commitment made before God and witnesses and don’t let your marriage covenant be dictated by feelings alone.